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Are brand new mums in baby wards being targeted?

NHS under fire for giving maternity ward access to company providing Bounty bags

A row has blown up today about whether new mums are being targeted while in NHS wards after just giving birth.

Bounty, which provides information, advice and support for families, as well as vouchers, discounts and freebies in the form of free Bounty bags, is paid by HM Revenue and Customs to go into NHS hospitals to distribute Government forms for child benefit to new mothers. Bounty has been accused of using the opportunity to get parents to hand over personal details, which it may then sell on to advertisers.

In a feature in the British Medical Journal, Glasgow GP and Radio 4 presenter Dr Margaret McCartney questioned whether sales reps should be allowed on to maternity wards to distribute forms at the same time as providing advertisers access to parents through "baby bags", which contain samples as well as flyers.

"Is it right that the NHS implies its approval for the thousands of products being promoted at parents?" Dr McCartney said. "Do we really want parents placed under advertising pressure and for NHS doctors, radioraphers and midwives to be the conduit? Some conflicts of interest in medicine are hard to avoid. Others are not," she said.

On its website, Bounty states that it is committed to being "responsible and socially supportive, [which] means that Bounty also helps healthcare professionals be able to give mums more".

The company also supports healthcare and family charities, in particular in partnership with Tommy's, the charity that funds research into stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage.

HMRC pays Bounty £90,000 a year to distribute the forms for child benefit, which, it says, is cheaper than posting them. According to the Telegraph, Bounty pays the NHS £2.3 million a year for access to wards.